Week 1 | Thursday

[concasse]

[There are consequences to giving chefs a minor heart attack, chief among them being that Sanji has no qualms about hunting Natsuo down, looking more than a little irate. It'll be after the kid's rested and looking a lot less dead, of course, but otherwise?

Kid gloves off, where is that little bastard--]

Comments

[randori]

[ This little bastard got tired of being told to sit in his bed all day and slipped out the moment he could— headed for the kitchen, because where else? It's slow going, though, through the halls and down the stairs. Painstakingly down one stair at a time because haha slamming down these steps hurt. ]

[concasse]

[... So tempted to drop kick Natsuo right back up them because Sanji is a caring individual who has never done anything wrong in his life.]

There you are.

[randori]

[ Haha he sounds mad. Natsuo pulls a grin and tries to feign ignorance. ]

You were looking for me? Heh, I feel so loved.

[concasse]

[Mad?

Mad is an understatement]

Don't you fuckin start with me, kid!

[CHARGIN' RIGHT OVER]

You come back looking like a corpse from shit knows where! The hell even happened?!

[randori]

Uh— Shit happened, you know...?

[ He can't run away, so he grabs hold of the banister for protection and sinks down onto one of the steps. ]

Um. Uh- what'd you hear so far?

[concasse]

Tch! I haven't tracked down the guy who was with you yet.

[Shirasu's time is coming, trust him. For now, however, he wants to hear this from Natsuo]

But according to Fane, there were doors and you had shit to do inside of 'em.

[randori]

[ That makes it sound a lot more important that it really was. Was there anything to do? It felt more like he was being toyed around with the entire time.

He shakes his head, but that just makes it hurt. ]

For me and Shirasu, there was only one door, so that's where we went. Dunno about where everybody else went, 'cause ours was one straight path. Ice blocking everything, even behind us where we came in, and it was cold and dark. All we had was this little fire lantern.

[concasse]

So the door appeared and you weren't even given something to do besides carry a lantern?

[Hnn]

So what did you find at the end of the path?

[randori]

I didn't even get to carry the lantern.

[ haha what a sore spot. Shirasu took the mantle on that one and refused to even let him borrow some of the flame. But, ah-

He pats around his pockets, pauses, and then stares up at Sanji. ]

I left it in my room. But there was a doll there, and a note- I didn't get to read it, but I think Shirasu must've.

[concasse]

-- A doll?

[What the fuck that is so creepy]

Ugh, the fuck would that be doing down there... It didn't talk or anything, did it?

[randori]

Nah, it didn't have a face.

[ A blank, faceless doll... creepy. ]

Dunno what it was doing down there, though. I thought maybe it might've belonged to that girl whose picture's on the tapestries on the first floor?

[ That girl alternating with the dragon and tiger (3 guesses who those represent) but also a beast ]

[concasse]

[He's honestly upset Natsuo got hurt but better him than Sanji, fuck creepy dolls.]

... Y'know, I forgot about that. Good thinking, might be right.

[randori]

If that's it, I hope I can find her somewhere in the castle... [ Or she's dead already and the tapestry is just in her honor, who knows. ]

Anyways, I dunno what all that was about. It felt like a trap to get us killed— how many people went, do you know? If one person was behind all of that, it's kind of scary.

[concasse]

You, your partner, Veronica-chan, Varian, Fane, and Stephanie-chan were the only ones who went through those doors... so six in total.

I do remember Stephanie-chan bleeding, too, but you got the worst of it. And there was one group that didn't get hurt at all.

[randori]

No way- what happened in those other places? Were they fighting each other too?

[ The rest of them are people he wouldn't think would pull out a weapon so readily— but then again, he didn't think Shirasu would either. ]

[concasse]

... What?

[Staring at him]

Fighting who?

[randori]

Each other? I got cut by Shirasu 'cause he pulled out a knife and—

[ oh ]

Yeah, you'd better go talk to him. I dunno if it's one of your kitchen knives or not.

[concasse]

I don't give a shit about the kitchen knives right now!

[... Still going to talk to Shrasu later, but--]

That bastard attacked you? For real?

[randori]

No, he didn't! I just got stabbed!

[ ...? No, he has to stop and think about what'd exactly happened back there. Shirasu had the knife out before Natsuo had caught up to him; he hadn't pulled it out to attack him. ]

He was trying to fight something else. There was ice everywhere— I think he just got spooked by his own reflection or something.

[concasse]

[Good lord, Sanji is confused -- but at least not pissed off anymore! Time will tell if this is a good thing]

So... he accidentally stabbed you while trying to kill his reflection.

[USE BETTER ENGLISH, NATSUO]

[randori]

Yes. He accidentally stabbed me while trying to kill his own reflection.

[concasse]

... You need to stop going off on adventures.

[That's the takeaway]